Alchemical symbol

Alchemical symbols, originally devised as part of alchemy, were used to denote some elements and some compounds until the 18th century. Note that while notation like this was mostly standardized, style and symbol varied between alchemists, so this page lists the most common.

Three primes
According to Paracelsus (1493-1591), the three primes or tria prima are

Four basic elements
Western alchemy makes use of the Hellenic elements. The symbols used for these are: